


Unlikely Bond

by Revasnaslan



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Background Zarkon/Haggar, Canon Compliant, Gen, as far as i'm aware anyway lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-02
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-11-07 17:03:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17964545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Revasnaslan/pseuds/Revasnaslan
Summary: Following the destruction of Daibazaal, Zarkon finds himself taking care of his wife's cat.





	Unlikely Bond

**Author's Note:**

> This was my piece for Zarkon Zine over on tumblr :3 I decided to do a piece with Zarkon and Kova for it, because there's a serious lack of that in this fandom, even though there's a wealth of potential.

Zarkon didn’t know how in the Void Kova had ended up on his flagship—he had expected the feline to perish with the destruction of Daibazaal. After all, nobody except for Honerva would have remembered the bring Kova along when the planet was being evacuated, several weeks ago. Kova had always been  _ Honerva’s _ pet, and he had never really liked Zarkon too much… although, to be fair, Zarkon had never really gone out of his way to try and befriend Kova.

Now, though, Kova was perched on the foot of his bed, staring at him with bright yellow eyes. Slowly, Kova’s tail tip flicked back and forth as he seemed to regard Zarkon warily.

“What?” Zarkon asked, as if he expected to actually get an answer out of the feline. He was surprised by the softness of his own voice. Carefully, he approached the bed—as he had often see Honerva do—and knelt down so that he was eye level with Kova. In return, Kova let out a soft  _ mrrp _ . Zarkon hesitated then, unsure of what he should do next…

So, he slowly reached out, offering his hand to Kova. He remembered Honerva saying something about ‘properly introducing himself’ to Kova and how it could strengthen their relationship, but he had never actually even gotten around to doing it. At the motion, Kova’s ears flicked curiously, and he cautiously moved forward, sniffing Zarkon’s palm. After a long moment, Kova butted his head against Zarkon’s hand.

Zarkon didn’t even realize he had been holding his breath until he exhaled.

Then, there was a loud sound—although it didn’t sound like an explosion, perhaps just someone dropping something down the hall—and Kova bolted off. He darted past Zarkon and squeezed into a nearby vent, disappearing from and leaving a flummoxed Zarkon in his wake.

—

After that first evening, Zarkon found himself returning from his duties to find Kova perched on the foot of his bed. He couldn’t make sense of it, but he refused to be mean and restrained himself from shooing the cat away. It was clear that Kova wasn’t intending to ignore Zarkon like he always had back before everything had gone wrong. Zarkon decided to go with it… there was a nagging voice in the back of his mind, reminding him that Honerva would have been happy to see them getting along  _ finally _ .

Kova always greeted him with a soft  _ mrrp _ and seemed to checked him over—although what exactly he was looking for, Zarkon wasn’t sure. Only once Kova was certain his unknown criteria was met did he dart off and disappear back into the vents. Zarkon assumed that Kova was living there now. He had no idea where Kova could’ve been going, since nobody ever reported seeing him around the ship.

Zarkon didn’t think much of Kova’s behavior until Kova stopped turning up in his room at all. At first, he wasn’t— _ tried _ not to be concerned. If Kova had survived this long on his own, he’d be fine and turn up again. It wasn’t like there was anywhere for him to go, after all… 

Although, Kova was crafty. Zarkon could believe it if Kova had figured out how to plan a heist to get off the ship. Kova was probably smarter than some of his soldiers.

Zarkon’s first reaction was to go and see Honerva, to ask her for advice on how to track down her wayward cat—he hadn’t even realized he was heading to the medical bay until he was standing right outside of it. There, he hesitated, half-reaching out for the door. She couldn’t even remember her own name, so why would she remember how to take care for Kova? Even though he was desperate, all previous attempts to get her to  _ remember _ had failed…

But even if she couldn’t remember Kova—couldn’t remember  _ him _ —Zarkon supposed the least he could do was watch out for Kova. The damn cat had been one of the few things Honerva had ever loved so selflessly after all.

He left the way he had come, ignoring the confused and curious looks of the soldiers he passed. A quick glare was enough for them to continue on about their own business. Zarkon knew that he didn’t want to leave Kova running around the ship alone. If he could find something to entice Kova out of his hiding place, it’d be enough, and maybe Zarkon could provide enough incentive to keep Kova in his room and out from under the feet of the soldiers. Back on Daibazaal, whenever Kova had gone missing, Honerva would leave food out for him. Kova would always come running and reappear within a couple of hours… 

Eventually, he found his way to the kitchens. The cook on duty seemed surprised—perhaps even startled—as he entered the kitchen and started looking around. It took them a full minute and a half to find their tongue. 

“E-Emperor,” they stammered. “What can I do for you?”

“I need fish,” Zarkon said simply, purposefully leaving it vague as to what he needed it for.

The cook was wise enough not to ask, even though confusion was evident on their features as they quickly turned away and disappeared into a nearby walk-in. They didn’t leave Zarkon waiting long, and with a fillet in hand, Zarkon returned to his quarters. There, he set the plate down in a place he knew Kova would be likely to find it. And then he waited, working through some reports from his many commanders, trying to keep his focus. Kova was sure to turn up at the prospect of food.

Several hours later, he finally heard the soft patter of paws on the floor of his room. When he glanced up, he caught a flash of bright orange fur as Kova darted out of the nearby grate and over to the plate he had left on the floor. Kova circled the dish, seeming hesitant. His tail lashed as if he was expecting the food to pounce at him. However, he carefully sniffed and upon confirming it wasn’t a threat, he eagerly devoured the fish.

Zarkon could hear him purring from across the room. He didn’t say anything, however. Instead, he set his datapad to the side and watched as Kova all but inhaled the food. Only after the plate was clean did Kova look up, licking his jaws. He almost seemed to be smiling as he got to his feet, letting out soft mrrps as he trotted over to Zarkon. Once there, he wound himself around Zarkon’s legs and continued purring loudly.

It was… well, cute, for lack of a better word. Carefully, Zarkon reached down and lightly stroked Kova’s head.

—

Zarkon got into the habit of leaving food out for Kova after that. Slowly, but surely, Kova started spending more and more time in Zarkon’s quarters. He seemed to have taken quite a liking to kneading his claws into the pillows of Zarkon’s bed. Zarkon might’ve slept mostly out of habit at this point, but he had very little need for the pillows anymore, so he let Kova have at it. He had even started noticing that occasionally, he could spot Kova following him around the ship. Most often at a distance. However, it was more and more frequent as time went on, and Kova didn’t seem to be making any attempts to hide himself from Zarkon.

He had never follow Zarkon into the throne room, though. Today was a first. Zarkon could see Kova sitting on the far side of the room, half-hidden in the shadow of a pillar near the door that was supporting the massive windows that showed the cosmos outside the ship.

“—the Alteans have been gaining traction in the far reaches of the Empire, Your Majesty,” one of Zarkon’s commanders was saying. “I believe it’s imperative that we mount a full frontal assault and decimate—”

“That could wipe out the entire fleet!” another commander snapped.

While Zarkon had mostly been paying attention to them, he found his attention drawn back over to Kova when the loud shout startled the feline. His fur stood up on end as he cautiously peeked out from his hiding place, eyes wide and ears drawn back. The commanders continued fighting amongst themselves, but Kova didn’t seem interested in what they were saying. His gaze was locked on Zarkon. Quickly, he slinked across the floor, past the arguing commanders, who immediately fell silent when they noticed Kova in their midst. However, Kova didn’t stop to look at them, darting over to Zarkon. Once there, he hopped into Zarkon’s lap, circling a couple of times before settling down.

And then, he started purring. Loudly, as if to make it clear how much he enjoyed being where he was. It was more than Kova had ever done for Zarkon before, and he barely managed to withhold his smile. Instead, he turned his gaze back to his commanders and frowned deeply at them.

“Did I tell you to stop speaking?” he questioned.

“I-I—Of course, Your Majesty,” the first commander said quickly, before quickly continuing to explain his plan of attack, while the second commander made no attempt to conceal their eye roll.

Zarkon settled back and listened. He didn’t notice he had started running his hand along Kova’s spine until Kova let out a high-pitched and pleased sounding mrrp. He stretched out, kneading his claws into Zarkon’s leg, and this time, Zarkon did not withhold the slight upwards quirk of his lips.

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: [revasnaslan](http://revasnaslan.tumblr.com/)  
> twitter: [revasnaslan](https://twitter.com/revasnaslan)  
> pillowfort: [revasnaslan](https://www.pillowfort.io/revasnaslan)


End file.
